The Cup of Sugar Story
A look at the name, the mission and what this agency is all about.
The idea for Cup of Sugar came during a drive through the outer edges of Austin’s city limits. A number of tech giants had recently announced their intentions to move to the south’s Keep-Weird haven, and luxury apartment buildings were flying up all over town to meet the expected demand. My husband Randy and I were on our way to visit a property we’d hoped might be our next dream home (spoiler: it wasn’t).
Since I’m rarely the one behind the wheel when we travel together, I let my mind start to wander. One of the apartment buildings featured balconies so close to one another that two occupants in different units could easily converse over coffee while leaning over the edge of the railing, watching the cars go by below. That’s when it hit me: They were also close enough to share a cup of sugar.
What now seems like a quaint, old-timey exchange was once far more common. Neighbors relied on one another to help them out. They shared what they had. If someone approached them with a request, the person on the receiving end was less likely to question their motives, suspicious of what the person wanted or was “up to.”
Sharing a cup of sugar was precisely the small act of kindness that I wanted my new business to value. I would offer to give clients what I had—something I could contribute easily, something that they needed but couldn’t necessarily access on their own.
At first I imagined that this thing was specialized writing services, the thing I’d been doing for more than a decade. But that didn’t feel quite right. I was already feeling a bit burned out. Writing content for other people hadn’t felt fun or inspired for a while. I knew it was something I could do, but it wasn’t necessarily going to light me up.
So instead, I opted to focus on one of my great passions: Helping everyday people experience everyday magic. This was and is more than a tagline. I really believe that the world would ultimately be a better place if more people could connect to their intuitions, understand their magic, access the incredible power that exists within them.
I wanted my clients to feel what it means to be in flow with the universe, even if that flow is not consistent or ever-present. I knew that simply embracing this magic occasionally would be enough to create profound change. Cup of Sugar would help them to believe an unshakeable truth: You are magic.
And how would I go about helping people experience magic? By offering to share the tool I use to help access my own magic. I knew that if I could explain tarot in a matter-of-fact, non-“woo” way, I could get more people interested in exploring this tool and the others at their disposals. I began offering readings that created transformation. I held workshops, collaborating with friends who also had amazing gifts to share. I came out of the broom closet on LinkedIn, putting my intentions into the universe.
All these steps were important. They helped me focus my attention, understand my offerings, create my niche. They led me to where I am today, and then encouraged me to think bigger. While I will continue to offer readings, courses and workshops, I’m incredibly passionate about bringing tarot to larger audiences, helping more people to experience magic in their everyday lives.
Cup of Sugar specializes in custom tarot services for weddings, corporate parties and other celebratory events in order to achieve this goal. By interacting with people who wouldn’t necessarily seek out a tarot reading on their own, I have the opportunity to plant the first seeds of transformation.
Will every person I meet suddenly pick up a tarot deck after our short time together? Of course not. But when we meet people where they’re at, we can invite people outside their comfort zones, challenge their worldviews, offer new perspectives, spark their interest in something a little different.
Ultimately, my business was developed to empower people to see beyond what they “know” to be “true” about tarot, magic and personal power. A lifelong skeptic myself, I know that I have a gift for explaining ethereal concepts in a way that makes sense to the engineers, scientists and business-y business people in the room. That’s what I’m good at, and that’s what I want to contribute. That’s my cup of sugar to share with the neighbor across the way.
Would you like to experience the transformational power of tarot for yourself? You can book a 60-minute individual reading with me here. Not finding anything that fits your schedule? Email me at Karli.a.petrovic@gmail.com. If you’re more interested in learning how to access your own transformational power, start here.